In this verse the blessing is to give Jacob dominance over others.
Let peoples serve you: again Isaac asks God to cause peoples to serve Jacob. This is a “let” command in English and expresses a wish or desire stated in terms of the following verb, that is, “I desire that people serve you,” or “People should serve you.” Peoples translates a word that may refer to nations, ethnic groups, or tribes, and has almost the same meaning as the word rendered nations in the next line. The reference may be to the Canaanites and other tribes that lived around Israel in later times. You has here a double sense, in that it applies to the one receiving the blessing, but at the same time it refers to the time when Israel is itself a nation. It may be necessary to make this twofold meaning clear by saying, for example, “I ask God to make other nations [tribes, peoples] be servants to you and your descendants.”
And nations bow down to you: nations (see the above paragraph) may be translated by a different term for peoples, tribes, ethnic groups, if one is available. Bow down translates the same verb used of Abraham bowing before the Hittites in chapter 23. The word is also used, for example, in Exo 11.8 and 20.5. The sense as it is used here is to bow down before someone in submission, to give of yourself to obey and serve. The two lines of verse 29 are closely parallel in meaning, and the second line makes more vivid what it means in the first line to serve.
In the second pair of parallel lines in verse 29, the thought moves from the large, general group called nations and peoples to the more personal brothers.
Be lord over your brothers: lord translates the Hebrew gebir used here for the first time in Genesis. The word is closely related to gibbor, the word for “strong,” “mighty,” “valiant,” “one who does acts of bravery.” Good News Translation shifts to the verb “rule.” We may also say, for example, “May you be the chief over…,” “… master over…,” “… the leader of….” Brothers is used here more generally in the sense of “relatives” (Good News Translation).
Because the blessing refers not only to the present but to a future time when Jacob and Esau have descendants, it may be clearer to translate, for example, “May you and your descendants be rulers over your brothers and their descendants.”
May your mother’s sons bow down to you: mother’s sons should probably be understood in the wider sense as descendants, as this expression means the same as your brothers. Bow down is the same as in the first part of this verse. The poetic effect of the close repetition is to emphasize the power and dominion given to the person who receives the blessing. Translators should determine what the effect of the repetition is, and use the poetic devices in their own languages that create emphasis.
The blessing comes to a close with a warning that anyone who curses Jacob (and his descendants) will receive a curse, and anyone who blesses him (them) will be blessed in turn. This recalls the blessing on Abraham in 12.3.
Cursed be everyone who curses you: for a discussion of curse see 3.14. Here again Isaac is calling upon God to punish by means of a curse, and we may translate “I ask God to curse everyone who curses you.” In some cases it may be more suitable to say “I ask God to punish [with a curse] everyone who puts a curse on you.” If a special term for curse is not available, we may also translate, for example, “I pray God to cause evil to happen to everyone who wishes you to have evil.”
In the final line, blessing is to be repaid by blessing, the opposite of the curse: and blessed be everyone who blesses you. To mark the contrast between blessing and curse, it may be best to begin with a contrastive connector such as “but” or “on the other hand.” In languages in which the passive cannot be used, it may be necessary to say “I ask God to bless everyone who blesses you,” “I pray God to do good to everybody who does good to you,” or “I ask God to prosper all who speak kind words of you.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .